


just getting started and the best is yet to come

by Jellybean96



Series: A Future Fixed [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: A Future Fixed Series, Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fix-It, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21529450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jellybean96/pseuds/Jellybean96
Summary: Crisis averted. Planets saved. Now it's time to go back to her own time and Mia doesn't want to say goodbye. But maybe she doesn't have to. Not really.
Relationships: Connor Hawke/Mia Smoak (mentioned), Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, William Clayton & Mia Smoak, William Clayton/Original Male Character (mentioned)
Series: A Future Fixed [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551670
Comments: 20
Kudos: 168





	just getting started and the best is yet to come

**Author's Note:**

> Hey babes! Back again with a new Arrow fic for you. This one is inspired by all the things that have been happening this season, and some hints and things we've been getting about the rest of the season. It's also kind of my own little hopeful/fanciful ending to the series because I know it most likely won't end as happy as this one does because we are not that lucky.
> 
> But here you go anyways!
> 
> Also, this is hopefully going to be the first of many fics in this little world I've created. I have many ideas, just have to get them down and post them. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Do we really have to do this?" Mia asks as she and Will stand in front of their parents in the present day (well, hers and Will's past), saying their goodbyes in the aftermath of the biggest fight of their lives. "Can't we just stay a little longer? I have...so many questions. So many things I need answers to."

"Mia, we have to go back," Will pipes in, stepping forward and resting a hand gently on her shoulder. He gives her a sympathetic smile, knowing exactly how she feels about having to say goodbye.

"Your brother's right," their mom agrees, her head resting against her husband's arm as she hugs him close. Those two had been glued at the hip since they reunited. It's been sweet, considering Mia's never once seen that growing up. But, as it is with basically every other young adult seeing their parents act so lovey-dovey, it's also gross. "You two need to go back to your own time. You can't stay here anymore."

Mia blinks back tears. "But I don't...what if we didn't fix anything? What if we go back and everything's exactly the same? I don't want to lose you."

Her mom smiles sadly, stepping forward and placing a hand on her cheek. "Oh, baby, you're not losing me. And you're not losing your father. We'll always be with you, no matter what. Come here." She's pulled into a hug and she wraps her arms tightly around her mom, letting the tears fall from her eyes. Her mom rubs at her back just like she did when she was little and it makes the tears pour out harder.

She lets go of her mom after a moment and steps over to her dad. His eyes are watery as he looks at her and his face is blurry through her own tears.

"Mia…"

She quickly closes the space between them, hugging him tightly and never wanting to let go. She finally got the chance to know him, to really know him, and now she has to say goodbye to him. It's not fair. She doesn't want to say goodbye.

She pulls back a little after a moment to look up at her dad. "I love you, dad."

He chokes on a sob and pulls his lips into a smile. "I love you too, Mia. So much. You are...one of the best things to ever happen to me. Never forget that, okay?"

She nods. "I promise."

There's movement out of the corner of her eye and she turns her head to see Sara Lance, captain of the Waverider (an actual time machine ship like straight out of one of those old science fiction shows that her mom loves so much) moving closer to them. She has a small smile on her face that can only be categorized as sad, sympathetic, and understanding all rolled into one.

"Ollie, Felicity," Sara speaks up softly, "you guys know what needs to happen now, right?" She holds up a silver gun-shaped device that's definitely not any type of gun Mia has ever seen in her lifetime.

Her dad sighs heavily. "Yeah, Sara, we know."

"Wait, what has to happen?" Mia asks confused, looking around.

"She has to wipe our memory, so we don't remember you and your brother coming here."

"What? Why?"

"Knowing too much about your future isn't always a good thing," Sara explains. She glances between her and William. "You two head onto the Waverider and get settled in, I'll be there in a minute."

"But we…"

"Mia," her mom says with a soft but stern voice. "Go."

She sighs. "Fine." She gives her dad one last hug, smiling when she feels him drop a kiss to the top of her head. She smiles up at him and then moves to give her mom one more hug as well. "I love you, mom."

"I love you too, baby."

"Mia, come on."

She looks over her shoulder to see William standing behind her, gesturing with his head toward the Waverider. She nods slowly, not looking at her parents again because she knows it'll be harder to leave if she does, and lets her brother guide her toward the Waverider.

Once on the ship, they settle themselves into two of the chairs in the main room, the rest of the other Legends milling about the room as they wait to take off.

"Gideon," Sara's voice calls out moments later as she makes her way onto the ship, "set a course for 2040, please. And scan the timeline to find the best place to drop off William and Mia."

_"Right away, Captain."_

"Everybody strap in," Sara calls out to the rest of the people on the ship. They all finish whatever it is they were doing and settle themselves into the remaining chairs.

As the ship starts taking off, she instinctively reaches out and grabs onto William's hand, squeezing it tightly. She's not the biggest fan of flying; the only time she's ever been on a plane was when they had gone to Russia. She feels William squeeze her hand back and she lets a small smile cross onto her lips. Whatever happens, as long as she's got her brother, she knows she'll be okay.

.

.

.

"Where are we?" Mia asks as soon as she and William step into the middle of what appears to be a living room. But none that they've ever seen before. Sara had brought them down to the backyard of a house in the jump ship (the yard being completed fenced in), letting them off and telling them that going through the back of the house was best so they wouldn't be stopped by anyone before they're ready to answer any questions. She also wished them luck with whatever happens next.

"I have…absolutely no idea," William replies, glancing around the space as he moves further into the room. "I don't think I've ever been here before."

"Neither have I." She shuts the glass door behind them as she follows her brother. "Stay alert."

"Give me a minute and I'll try to figure out where we are." He pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and begins tapping away at the screen.

Mia, on her part, slowly starts moving around in the dim lighting, looking for any clue as to where they are. It's a space that's definitely been lived in, she just doesn't know by who. But hopefully it's someone they know, or things will become very awkward for everyone.

Her eyes are drawn to an array of photos on the wall just as her brother starts talking. She stops dead in her tracks, her eyes glued to the faces in the photos staring back at her.

"Will, you better come look at this." She doesn't look behind her, unable to tear her gaze away from the images.

"What is it?" Will asks. "I've almost got the info on whoever lives here."

"Might be able to save you some time and effort there, big brother."

"What? How?"

"Because we live here. Or, at least, we did at one point. Look." She gestures to the images, hearing a small gasp coming from her brother when he sees the photos as well.

It's a collage of photos taken over the last twenty years, all of them featuring her and Will in one way or another. As well as another, younger blonde boy. And their parents too. Together. Happy. In love. Not separated by a greater cosmic power.

Her eyes well up with tears just looking at the photos, especially the ones of her dad and Will holding her when she's younger. She can't remember ever having any photos like this growing up. Except for the one small framed photo of her, her mom, and her dad when she was just a baby.

But this, this display is an entire lifetime of images. It's overwhelming, to say the least. But she's finding herself wanting to know the story behind every single picture.

"Whoa."

She huffs out a laugh. "I know. This is…"

"Awesome. Look at how small we are," he says, pointing to the photo of him holding her when she was a baby. "I mean...I must be thirteen, maybe fourteen. You're probably just a few months old at most. You were so cute and chubby. It's adorable."

"We really must have fixed things," she mumbles. "If we're in all of these photos together, and so are mom and dad…"

"Then we saved the present and fixed the future. Well, _our_ past and present, mom and dad's present and future. And technically it's our...you know what, never mind. I think you get it."

She gives her brother half a smile, letting out a small laugh. "Yeah, I think I'm able to understand your babbling by now. But speaking of mom and dad...where are they?" she asks, not really expecting an answer as she turns and looks around the space more. The lights are still dim and there's no other sign of life except for her and her brother. It's almost eerie.

" _Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak-Queen are at the front door."_

The automated voice makes her freeze and she glances over to see her brother with the same deer-in-the-headlights look on his face that she's sure is on hers. He looks at her briefly and swallows thickly before looking back at the door.

She swallows thickly as well, fighting to keep her tears at bay. If what she thinks is going to happen is actually going to happen then she doesn't know if she's going to be able to control herself.

The door pushes open quickly and she sucks in a sharp breath, shifting a little on her feet. The lights remain dim as two figures stumble into the room, the door swinging shut behind them. Her brows furrow together at the light giggling followed by a deep, muffled voice.

William clearly catches on before she does, because he immediately throws a hand over her eyes. "Really, you guys?"

There's a quiet gasp followed by a voice that she would recognize anywhere. "Archer, living room lights, please."

Mia smacks Will's hand away from her face, letting her eyes adjust to the sudden bright lights of the living room. She stares across the open space, seeing her parents fixing their clothing with an obvious pink tint to their faces.

"William, Mia, what are you two doing here?" their mom asks, adjusting the front of her dress and smoothing down her hair.

Mia shares a quick look with her brother, her eyes widening just the slightest bit. She's at a complete loss for words and doesn't know how to explain why they're there. She doesn't know anything about this, clearly fixed, timeline.

Will opens and closes his mouth a few times before looking at their parents. "We uh...we decided to come and surprise you both. But clearly, we should have called first."

"Don't be silly," their dad says, shifting on his feet. "You know you two are always welcome anytime. This is your home too, even if neither of you lives here full-time anymore."

Will raises a brow. "Dad, you and mom were clearly about to…" he trails off and waves his hand in a random direction, his face scrunching up and his body shuddering. "We should have called first."

"That doesn't matter now though," their mom says. "Because you're here now. Is either one of you hungry? Your dad and I were just out to dinner, but I'm sure he could whip something up for you real quick."

William smiles. "We'd love some food, thanks."

"Good. Oliver, hun, you wanna make the kids some food?"

"Of course. What are you guys in the mood for?"

"Anything, really. Right, Mia?" He gently nudges her in the arm, jarring her out of the haze she'd been in seeing her parents together.

She nods sharply and plasters a smile on her face. "Right, yeah. Totally. That uh, that sounds good."

They wait and watch as their dad moves into the kitchen to get started on their dinner, whatever he decides to make, and their mom slowly follows behind him.

"So did Connor and Ben come with you?" their mom asks as she pulls herself onto one of the stools at the island counter.

Mia gasps quietly at hearing Connor's name, her eyes involuntarily welling up with tears. "He's alive," she whispers, but she clearly wasn't as quiet as she could have been.

Her mom's brows furrow in her direction. "Of course he's alive. Why wouldn't he be? Unless you followed through with your many threats to end him whenever you two argue." She sighs and shakes her head. "That boy truly is a brave soul for being with you. Have you two settled on a date yet?"

"Felicity."

"What? It's a question, Oliver." She spins toward their dad and raises a brow at him. "I'm not allowed to ask my daughter a question?"

"No, of course you are. But I don't think either of them wants you to ask them questions about their love lives right now. They probably just want to relax. Not be grilled by their mother."

Their mom huffs. "Fine." She looks at both of them pointedly. "But after we eat, I will be asking plenty of questions. Don't think you can escape so easily."

With their mom's attention elsewhere, Mia looks at her brother with wide eyes. "Date? A date for what? What was she talking about?"

"Uh...I think that might be what she's talking about."

She follows his gaze down to a framed photo sitting on a small table at the end of the couch. She studies it and finds a beautifully crafted silver ring sitting on the fourth finger of her left hand, a small opal gem sitting in the center of it. She looks back up at her brother with wide eyes. "I'm engaged?"

"Apparently. And I'm married, evidently." He holds up another photo showing him and another man both in tuxes with wide smiles, thick black bands wrapped around the fourth finger of both their left hands. "The future really is different."

She scoffs. "Yeah, no kidding. Let's go eat. I really am kind of hungry." She turns and makes her way toward the kitchen, hearing her brother's shoes on the hardwood as he follows behind her. She smiles at her parents as she joins them, still unsure as to how much more different this timeline actually is to the other one.

.

.

.

"Why are you two acting so strange?" their mom asks a little while later after they've finished eating, her brows furrowed together tightly as she watches them. "You've been acting off since your dad and I got home. What's going on?"

William and Mia share a look and then focus back on their parents. Neither of them are exactly sure where to start with their explanation, or if they should even explain it at all. They had their memories wiped by Sara, so there's no way they'd even believe them if they told the truth.

Mia takes a deep breath and sits up straighter in her seat, bracing herself for whatever reaction they're going to have. "Okay. So I know this may be a little hard to believe, but William and I—"

"Just came back from 2019."

Mia's eyes go wide and she quickly glances at her brother to see his eyes wide as well. She opens and closes her mouth a few times, looking back to her parents, finding them with small smiles on their faces. "How did—how do you guys know?"

Their dad lets out a sigh. "Sara never wiped our memories."

"What?!" William exclaims, leaning forward in his chair. "She never—but isn't it like...rule number one of time travel that you aren't supposed to know what the future is going to be like?"

"Normally, yes," their dad says with a nod. "But since both of you already existed in 2019, and we had changed the future, we all figured it would be okay since we didn't know what to expect from this new future."

"So you guys have just been waiting all these years for us to...show up?" Mia asks.

"In a sense, yes," their mom agrees. "We weren't expecting it to happen until much later, so we just sort of enjoyed our time watching you two grow up. But eventually, we knew that one day this would happen. Well, not exactly this, but the two of you showing up from 2019, fresh off the Crisis that almost destroyed everything and everyone."

"Honestly, it's a breath of fresh air to not have to be waiting every day for that day to be the one," their dad admits. "Do you two...remember anything? About your new pasts?"

Mia shakes her head. "Nothing. The collage of photos on the wall is a nice little trip down memory lane, if we actually remembered any of it."

"Guess that explains why neither of you has your rings on," their mom mumbles.

Their dad takes a deep breath and leans back in his seat, grabbing their mom's hand and holding it. "Not long after the two of you got on the Waverider with Sara and the other Legends, we got in contact with your grandparents, William. We told them that we wanted you back, that we were your parents and we didn't want you to grow up thinking we didn't care about you, that we didn't fight for you or want you in our lives.

"Then we went to Central City and told you the same thing in person. As well as letting you know that you had a baby sister that really wanted to meet you back home. Even though she was only a few months old."

Their dad smiles. "You agreed to come back with us, after a very long and much-needed conversation, and we did our best to always keep you and your sister safe and give you the best life we could."

"You did," William replies almost instantly. "I mean...I don't really remember any of it right now...but considering where we are right now, I'm guessing it was pretty good."

"We like to think it was."

"And you, miss Mia," their mom speaks up, "even though you were only a few months old when you met your brother for the first time, it was like you already knew who he was. It was such a beautiful moment." She lets out a small laugh. "And you practically worshipped the ground Will walked on when you were little, always wanting to be around him, no matter what. Everywhere he went, you had to go too. It was very sweet to watch."

William looks at her with a teasing smile, holding one hand to his chest. "Aww...you do love me."

She rolls her eyes and shoves his shoulder. "Shut up before I hit you."

Their mom lets out a sigh and then a small laugh. "And then it became that. Thank goodness Lucas is way more docile."

Mia's head whips back around to her parents. "Who's Lucas?"

"Your younger brother. He was born just before you turned five, Mia. You were such a good big sister, always wanting to help me and your dad take care of him. You told everyone you could about him. You even tried to convince us to let you take him to school for show-and-tell." Their mom lets out a laugh. "That was an interesting conversation. You weren't too happy that you couldn't take him. But you got over it pretty quickly." She lets out a yawn, covering her open mouth with one hand. "Well, I am certainly not as youthful as I once was, able to stay up all hours of the night."

Their dad rolls his eyes. "Honey, you're fine. You're not the one pushing sixty."

Their mom leans forward, cupping one of their dad's cheeks in her hand. "Oh, but you're still as handsome as the day we met."

"Alright," William speaks up, right as their parents are leaning in for a kiss, "I don't know about Mia, but I think I've had enough excitement for one day. I need to sleep for a while."

"Sleep actually sounds great right now," Mia agrees with her brother, standing from her chair and stretching her arms above her head. "Where uh...where are our rooms? Or...former rooms?"

"Mia, yours is still the same as always, since we haven't really gotten around to doing anything with it yet. Will, we changed yours years ago after you moved out."

William nods. "Makes sense. Upstairs?"

"Yes. Mia, your door is still labeled. Will, yours is at the opposite end of the hall."

"Great. We'll see you guys in the morning, then," William says, placing his hands on Mia's shoulders and gently leading her toward the staircase.

Their parents calls of 'goodnight' echo in her ears as she lets Will guide her to where they need to be. He continues to guide her up the stairs and she just rolls her eyes.

She swats his hands away. "Would you stop? I know how to walk up the stairs."

William holds his hands up. "Alright, alright. Calm down. Think I found your room." He gestures with his head and she turns around to see what he found.

The door in front of her is pulled shut, dark green paint dried to the wood spelling out 'MIA'.

"You must have inherited mom and dad's affinity for green," William teases behind her.

She rolls her eyes again, letting her fingers run over the paint, the tiniest hint of a small crawling onto her lips. She turns around to look at her brother, tears filling her eyes. "We really did it, Will. We actually fixed everything."

"I know. It's pretty great. We actually got to grow up together. And we have a little brother. This is better than I ever imagined."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." She wrings her hands together as she shifts on her feet. "Will? Do you...do you think there's another set of us in 2040 right now? The ones who actually lived through all of this? Do you think we'll ever remember anything about this new life? Or that we'll forget everything about the old one? What's going to happen?"

Her brother shrugs his shoulders and sighs. "Honestly, Mia? I have no idea. I'm not an expert at time travel. I say that whatever happens, we just make the best of it."

She nods. "Sounds like a plan I can live with."

He gives her a small smile. "I'm glad. I'll see you in the morning." He turns around to make his way to his bedroom when he stops and turns back to her. "Also, I'm not sure if I should mention this or not because I don't know if you two have actually talked about it here or not. But back in 2019, after everything happened, I was talking to dad, and he mentioned actually hanging up the hood for good at some point in the near future. Well, his near-future."

Her brows furrow together tightly. "So there'd be no more Green Arrow?"

William shakes his head. "No, he didn't say that. He just said that he'd hang it up one day and let the others keep the city safe on their own for a while. And that maybe one day he'd pass the mantle onto a certain someone when they were ready to take it on."

"Really? To who? You?" she asks with a raised brow. "Because, not to be mean or anything, big brother, but I can't exactly picture you in green leather shooting arrows at people and running around rooftops."

William shakes his head. "He didn't say he'd pass it on to me."

"Then to who?"

He smiles at her as he slowly backs away toward his bedroom. "To you." He leaves her standing there a little in shock at the new information. Clearly, she had training in this new timeline too. And her dad trusts her to take up the mantle of the Green Arrow. Or at the very least, her mom convinced him to let her do it.

She smiles to herself as she pushes open the door to her bedroom. Almost immediately a weird tingling sensation rushes throughout her body as a bright light flashes in the corner of her eyes. Then she's assaulted by vague memories of different things that happened in that room, both good and bad. None of them are too clear at the moment, but she figures they'll become more clear as time goes on.

Falling down onto her bed, she stares up at the ceiling and lets a small laugh escape past her lips. She turns onto her side and lets her eyes fall closed as her entire body subtly goes numb. But she doesn't worry about that. Because even though she can't recall a single thing about this new timeline, she has her entire family together and the city is safe. She can't wait to see what this new world is like.

**Author's Note:**

> So? What'd you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> Took a little inspiration from the fact that the apparent final two words of dialogue for the series are "To You". Obviously no one knows the context of those words, so this was my own little spin. Added that in after I had already had the majority of this written, by the way. I think it worked pretty well, though. :)
> 
> Until next time,  
> Jellybean96 out!


End file.
